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U.Porto Memory

University of Porto Famous Alumni

Armanda Passos

Armanda Passos 1944-2021 Painter

Armanda Passos was born on 17^th February 1944, in Douro, on a family farm in Peso da Régua. She always lived in Porto.

She graduated in Fine Arts at the Porto Higher Institute of Fine Arts (today Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto), with the final classification of nineteen in Painting, subject which was taught by Júlio Resende who was also in charge of it. As a student, she was invited by Ângelo de Sousa to work as guest assistant professor and accepted the invitation. She regularly exhibited since 1976, year in which she made her first exhibition in Museu de Aveiro.

From her individual exhibitions in Portugal and abroad, we can highlight "Paintings and drawings" (London, 1989); "Ibériques", Galerie du Cygne (Geneva, 1993); "Reservas" in Casa Andresen and "Obra Gráfica" in Reitoria da Universidade do Porto, the only ones dedicated to a plastic artist at the time of the celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the University of Porto (2011). We should also highlight "Armanda Passos: 75 anos, 75 escritas", held around her 75^th anniversary, in the historical building of Porto University (2019). She also represented Portugal in several international contests such as Portuguese Contemporary Artists exhibition in Word Trade Centre (New York, 1985), the 5^th Biennal of European Graphic Art (Heidelberg 1988), "Internationale de la Gravure exhibition - intergrafia 91" (Katowice, Poland 1992) and the exhibition in Centre de la Gravure et de l’image Imprimée (La Louviére, Belgium, 1992).

Her work aroused texts of writers and historians such as José Saramago, Vasco Graça Moura, Urbano Tavares Rodrigues, Eduardo Prado Coelho, António Alçada Baptista, David Mourão-Ferreira, Mário Cláudio, Armando Silva Carvalho, Mia Couto, Raquel Henriques da Silva, Luís de Moura Sobral or José-Augusto França.

She is present in "Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea", "Centro de Arte Moderna Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian", "Fundação Champalimaud", "Fundação Oriente", "Coleção de Arte Contemporânea do Estado", "Coleção Millennium BCP", "Reitoria da Universidade do Porto", "Museu FBAUP", "Museu Serralves", "Museu do Douro", "Assembleia da República", "Tribunal de Contas", "Tribunal Constitucional", "Procuradoria Geral da República", "Presidência da República".

She was also awarded with "Prémio Ministério da Cultura", handed over by the Prime Minister Mário Soares (Lisbon, 1984) and with the awarding of "Comenda da Ordem do Mérito" by the President of Republic Cavaco Silva, in the Portugal Day (CCB, 2012).

In 2005, she idealized and built "Casa Armanda Passos", designed by Álvaro Siza, intended to keep her Collection of Art throughout her life. “During her life - the house was Armanda. And it will go on being like that” (Álvaro Siza, 2022).

Independents, solitary, distant from fads, her work was resilient. In Lídia Jorge’s words (2022), Armanda Passos "didn’t follow a model, didn’t belong to movements, didn’t feed strategies, didn’t have any other purpose rather than involve herself in the world she inhabited".

Before her death, Armanda Passos made great meaning donations. She left works of several techniques to Museu do Douro, in Peso da Régua, her birthplace, and to her city of Porto, she left oil paintings of great presence to Museu Serralves, oil paintings that she loved and kept in exhibition in ‘Casa Armanda Passos'.

Armanda Passos came across the cancer. She fought against it without complaining. A stoic Woman. She passed away on 19^th October 2021. She was surrounded by her best friends forever, her daughter and the dog. Her last drawing was carved in the main wall of the chapel where she is buried, in Cemitério da Lapa, Porto.

Armanda Passos was posthumously awarded with “Grand Oficial da Ordem Militar de Santiago de Espada” by the President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (Palácio de Belém, 2022).

Her first retrospective didn’t happen in her life. It was in Lisbon, in Champalimaud Foundation, where an outstanding exhibition took place that deserved a public applause. "Her first retrospective confirms the strength of her work and what we have lost in not having seen like it until nowadays", (Cristina Margato, Expresso, 2022).

The painter’s 80^th birthday was celebrated in "Casa Armanda Passos" with a retrospective of the 80’s. The architect drew, for that occasion, a flagpole and a flag higher than her own house. "Your mother was bigger than your house" Siza answered.
(U.Porto Rectory / Culture Unit, Fabíola Passos, Ana Martinho (translation), 2025)